22 April 2025
By Shannon Heckt
Contributing Writer
(lailluminator.com) — As projects to store carbon underground in Louisiana await permit approval to begin putting shovels in the ground, state lawmakers are mulling over whether to allow locals to have more of a say on whether such developments should be given the green light.
Carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) is a complicated issue in Louisiana when it comes to the politics and industry surrounding it. CCS has mixed support across the political spectrum. Some believe it is a worthwhile attempt to reduce carbon emissions from fossil fuel and industrial production. Others believe the technology is too untested and just a way for the oil and gas industry to justify high levels of greenhouse gas emissions.
As of now, dozens of applications for Class VI well permits, the ones needed to inject carbon dioxide underground, are under technical review at the state Department of Energy and Natural Resources. In a hearing earlier this year, DENR Secretary Tyler Gray said the first Class VI permits should be awarded in the first half of 2025.
Meanwhile, lawmakers have filed several bills to allow parishes to determine whether they would allow these wells to go forward.
DENR already has strict permitting processes that require research into the geology of the land where injection sites are planned. With the federal government giving Louisiana authority to issue its own Class VI permits, the state is poised to be one of the first to do work in the emerging carbon sequestration industry.
Some legislators have expressed frustration with how long the state is taking to award these permits out of fear that the projects may get pulled and put into surrounding states that also have the federal government’s permission to regulate Class VI wells.
One of the major fights of the session is anticipated to be over local control of CCS projects. House Bill 4 by state Rep. Chuck Owen, R-Rosepine, lets parishes approve ordinances to prohibit Class VI wells. Local governments can later hold elections to allow CCS projects to move forward should the majority of the parish’s voters approve the project.
Several other bills allow parishes to carve out prohibitions to Class VI wells or give locals the ability to weigh in on their approval.
Rep. Danny McCormick, R-Oil City, has a bill that goes so far as to make CCS illegal. He did suggest he would be willing to amend the bill but is firm in protecting property owners’ rights over their land. Public meetings in Vernon Parish drew hundreds of people against the projects, he said.
“I don’t believe anybody should have carbon sequestration under their property that [sic] don’t want it,” McCormick said.
McCormick, who does not have any proposed wells in his district, said he is passionate about the issue of private landowners who may not want these wells on or near their land.
Class VI wells are currently proposed in Allen, Ascension, Assumption, Beauregard, Caldwell, Cameron, Calcasieu, Iberville, Livingston, Pointe Coupee, Rapids, Sabine, St. Helena, St. John the Baptist, St. Charles, Vermillion, Vernon and West Baton Rouge parishes.
Senate Bill36, by Sen. Bob Hensgens, R-Abbeville, calls for local governments to hold public meetings and accept feedback when carbon capture projects are proposed. The proposal could be amended to add buffer zones around CCS wells and other safety precautions.
Tommy Faucheux, president of the Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association, said the Class VI permitting process already includes public comment and local officials as part of the process.
“I see these positive economic impacts that are being seen from the Meta deal, the Hyundai deal, the CF Industries deal, all of those are going to depend upon CCS in different parts of the state,” Faucheux said.
There are some concerns from legislators in support of CCS when it comes to allowing certain parishes to ban Class VI wells. Some of the projects will require pipelines to send carbon from other parishes and even other states to a storage site.
Rep. Brett Geymann’s proposal, House Bill 601, could stymie such pipelines. He said he is in favor of the CCS industry but wants to protect private property ownership rights.
“If the landowner doesn’t want your pipeline through their property, you have to go around them,” Geymann said.
Rep. Neil Riser, R-Columbia, said he will object to some of the local carve outs that he believes will block interstate and intrastate commerce. The state could lose out on businesses that don’t want to have to navigate complicated restrictions.
Faucheux said taking away eminent domain – the right for the government to take private property for public use or development – for CO2 pipelines is a bad idea.
“When you look at the nature of the pipeline network, Louisiana is one of the most mature pipeline networks in any state in the country,” he said. “We’ve been able to build out that network, and CO2 is a part of that, by companies interacting directly with landowners, and the use of eminent domain is more of the exception.”
There are several bills aimed at creating safety protocols and avenues for financial support for anyone potentially damaged by CO2 wells and pipelines. Consumer protection and environmental advocates believe there needs to be rules in place should the worst-case scenario occur, and to make sure the industry knows how to manage CCS projects.
The House Natural Resources Committee anticipates hearing a large number of the local CCS-related bills at the end of April.
This article originally published in the April 21, 2025 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.